The True Lab
by SparkJar587
Summary: A basic story about some art I saw. check out Zarla on deviant art to see the comics. very very angsty stuff going down here. hold on to your butts.
1. Chapter 1: Strange Memories

I ran through the list in my head as I walked down to the store at the other end of Snowdin. _Pasta, Sauce, Meatballs, chisps, milk._ I thought again and again.

"Hey Papyrus!" someone yelled out from Grillby's, "Come have a drink. On me!" Papyrus ignored the monster. Some people were just vulgar. After grabbing his groceries and chatting with the shopkeeper for a bit, he decided to surprise his brother with an early birthday gift. swinging over towards the river, he called the house.

"SANS. I'M GOING TO HOTLAND TO TALK TO ALPHYS AND METTATON. SADLY, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST ALLOW YOU TO GO TO GRILLBY'S FOR YOUR DINNER. I WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU!" Finally, one weird musical boat ride later, he was walking into Alphys' lab.

"H-hi Papyrus. A-are you h-here to see M-mettaton?" she asked in her stuttering drawl.

"ACTUALLY, ALPHYS, I AM HERE TO ASK YOU FOR SOME ADVICE." Alphys looked shocked. Papyrus looked downright… sheepish?

"What is i-it, P-papyrus? I-is something wrong with S-sans? or U-undyne?" Papyrus shook his hand frantically as she began to pace back and forth.

"NO. NO, NOTHING LIKE THAT! IT'S JUST THAT… SANS' BIRTHDAY IS NEXT WEEK. I WAS WONDERING WHAT TO GET HIM." Alphys looked at the skeleton critically. Birthday gift ideas? Papyrus had never asked before. _In fact_ , she realized, _I've never heard anyone mention Sans' birthday. ever._

"B-birthday? I don't remember you mentioning th-that at a-all." Papyrus looked down at the ground, and she realized that something had happened on that day. "D-did something h-happen?" Alphys asked quietly.

Papyrus looked up, tears in his eye sockets, and replied, "LET'S CALL FRISK. SHE'LL TELL YOU MORE." After about half an hour, Frisk and Toriel walked in to Papyrus crying quietly on the couch, leaning on Mettaton, who was looking a bit ruffled by this situation. "Alphys?" Frisk called softly. The royal scientist hurried over from her desk, where she had been writing an email report to Asgore.

"H-he said to c-call you about S-sans' b-birthday." Both of their expressions darkened. Toriel let go of her daughter's and and bustled off to comfort Papyrus, leaving Frisk and Alphys to talk.

"It all began around 5 in the afternoon. Sans was out at Grillby's, while Pap and I were making him some super special spaghetti. I was looking up at the snow when I saw Sans talking to a tall, shadowy man. It was one of the only times I've really seen Sans angry." Alphys gulped. "Sans started shouting in some language I couldn't recognize. The man just stood there like a statue. Until Sans took out his right hand brandishing it at the man like a knife. He recoiled, looking from the hand to Sans like he had seen a ghost. Papyrus nearly fainted in the kitchen. He got all quiet. we packed up the food and dishes before Sans walked in. He didn't say a word, just stormed up to his room." Frisk shook visibly still haunted by that dreadful day.

"H-how l-long?" Alphys whispered.

"Four years ago."

That night, Alphys had a dream. She was watching old lab tapes. She saw Sans and Papyrus in medical gowns. They were on tables, strapped down. someone was drilling something into their right hands. The screams haunted her. right before she woke up, she saw two small metal plates, side by side. carved into them were a sequence of letters and numbers. WDG-1S. WDG-2P.

 _ **Calm down the mob please.**_

 _ **I honestly don't plan anything out before hand, so this quickly got way darker than I intended. remember to F,F, and R. I'll be posting chapters of this on wednesdays(mostly) and one shots on the weekends.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_


	2. Chapter 2: Into the Depths

Frisk stood near Alphys' desk as the latter paced around the room spouting nonsense left and right. "Alphys," she said in vain, trying to stop her friends tirade, "Alphys, slow down." Frisk pulled out her phone and sent, "ALPHYS STOP TALKING." A ping and a stuttered apology later, Alphys told every detail of her dream, right down to the look of terror on the skeletons' faces.

"I think that this hand plate is what Sans shook at the man, but how does _He_ fit into all this?" Undyne walked over from the chair, where she had been listening silently. "Al, is there any exact date for when Pap and Sans showed up in Snowdin?" _Of course,_ Alphys thought, irritated with herself, _There has to be some strange event._ A bit of frantic typing and muttering got her to a list of unusual events that happened in the the past 20 years. Frisk and Undyne looked over her shoulders, examining articles title carefully.

"There!" Frisk yelled pointing at one of the files, labeled "Skeletons appear in Snowdin." The three of them scanned the articles on either side, but none saw anything seemingly related to it. "The only thing that seems remotely odd is that, six months after they showed up, a man named W.D.G. disappeared." Frisk sighed and began to walk home when Alphys screamed and dived for the box of old lab tapes.

"What the fuck?!" Alphys ignored Undyne's outburst and continued digging. "Here it is!" She exclaimed, turning to the others, she explained, "W.D.G. a-are the initials of the l-last Royal S-scientist, Dr. Gaster. H-he left me this m-message after his d-disappearance. I n-never understood it until now." She put the tape in the player and they watched as a man appeared on the screen, dressed in black and his face obscured.

"Alphys, there's not much time. I need you to watch them carefully. Please, inside the lower floors there is a door which leads to my secret labs. The key is in the future." Gaster then slowly made a sequence of strange positions with his hands. "I beg you Alphys. Don't make the same mistakes I made." the screen went black. Alphys took out the tape and returned it to the box.

"I carefully sketched each hand position but couldn't figure out what they were." She looked at Frisk expectantly.

"Sign language. He was using sign language." Frisk said before carefully repeating the positions Alphys had drawn. "A-R-I-A-L. Arial?" The two of them looked puzzled. Undyne looked at them like idiots.

"Gaster was married wasn't he? So it must be his wife, and they must both be skeletons." The other two looked at her like she had just been given the Nobel Prize. They all rushed down to the lower level, where Alphys guided them to a door.

"This is the door he was talking about. It's been Locked since he disappeared." Frisk did the honors of inputting the code, and the door quietly swung inwards. The three looked into the dark hallway. The secret Lab of Wing Ding Gaster, and the secret of Sans and Papyrus, lay at the end of that hallway. "W-well. Shall we?" Alphys whispered, half to herself. Undyne summoned a spear and walked up to the doorway.

"Stay behind me." The friends walked slowly down the shadowy corridor. They reached another door, half open. Frisk gave it a light push.

"Well it took you three long enough." They stared at a skeleton sitting on one of the desks. He wore a small smirk and a pair of square specs. Alphys looked like she was about to faint, but she still stepped forward and asked,

"Who are you?"

The skeleton's smirk was replaced by a serious frown. "I'm called many names. You can call me… Phil." He slid off the desk and gestured for them to follow him. Wearily, they were led to a room with two tables. Medical tables. "Phil" turned to face them, holding a pair of metal plates, identical to the ones attached to Papyrus and Sans hands. "Time to tell you the full story. Gaster and his wife Arial were divorced a year before Gaster started his experiments. He used these plates," he raised them a bit, "To prevent himself from getting attached."

Frisk tentatively asked the question they all were thinking, "Why would he need to distance himself like that?" The skeleton looked up at the ceiling, plain and gray as the words, full of disappointment and disgust, came out,

"Because they were his sons."

 _ **Well that was something. I'll probably post the next chapter sooner than expected. mainly because of the fact that I would make myself wait for this, and I won't do it to you guys. remember to F, F, and R.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_

 _ **PS: sorry for being this evil.**_


	3. Chapter 3: Unraveling Mysteries

_**So quick thing before you read. A little about me in general: I am currently in high school, and spend my free time playing video games and writing fanfic's. Undertale was the first rpg i really got into as a fan. My favorite character is Sans, but I also like Blooky. tell me who your favorite character is in the comments. sorry for the novel. READ ON!**_

Phil watched the three girls physically recoil at his last words.

Undyne was the first to try to speak. "But that's impossible." Alphys grabbed her wrist, stopping her from trying to impale the skeleton.

"S-sir, I would a-appreciate it… i-if you would explain."

He walked over to them, and stuck his arm straight through Frisk's chest.

"Wha-? A hologram?" He nodded, and removed his arm.

"Gaster created me as a therapist, if you will. I was supposed to be a psycho analyst for Sans and Papyrus." Alphys looked at the screen on the wall, showing details about a subject's magic levels, SOUL stability, and any abnormalities. The screen changed and showed Sans and Papyrus, with the words "IRREGULAR-EXECUTION RECOMENDED" across it. She gasped. "Exactly," Phil continued, "Gaster didn't know who they were at first. He had me run a test on their souls and his. Let's just say he didn't take the news well." Alphys could barely tear her eyes from the screen.

"B-but if he knew they w-were his children…" Phil shook his head sadly. Disappointment and anger filled his eyes.

"He didn't. the day Gaster found out, he appealed to asgore to cancel his projects and fire him. Asgore refused, although he questioned Gaster as to why."

Undyne finished for him, "He refused to tell Asgore, and Gaster stopped being Gaster, Right." The room went silent. Frisk went over to the two cells, each with only a bed. Alphys started accessing the computer, and Undyne simply stared at Phil, who returned the stare. Alphys opened up Phil's memory bank. She saw everything Gaster had said to him and everything he had said back.

"He named you after a typeface." Phil nodded his mind still elsewhere, reliving days past. Frisk was the first one to try and get into the cells. A force field appeared, blocking the path in.

"Phil," Alphys began nervously, "Shut down cell block force fields." Phil waved his hand and they shut off. Frisk searched through the cells, finding a few strange items. A color cube, a faded drawing, and a small figurine of a skeleton. it was wearing a lab coat, glasses, and had holes drilled into it's hands.

"Yes, That is a figure of Dr, Gaster." Phil answered the unasked question. Alphys decided to try another command, wondering if she had some kind of clearance.

"Phil, please open access to the surveillance cameras for this room to my personal console." She made sure not to shout, but be firm, and control her stutter.

"Of course, Alphys." Phil waved his hand again. Undyne looked at Alphys, impressed by her confidence.

"How are you doing that, Al?" She said with a huge grin. Alphys shook her head and gave one final command, hoping it would work.

"Phil, shutdown." He simply nodded and disappeared. The three of them hurried back to the main floor of the lab. Alphys explained that she suspected Phil, although he was still a somewhat sentient program, to have some form of control mechanism. "I p-proved it when I a-asked him to deactivate the f-force fields. When you say his n-name and any f-form of command he is forced to comply." Frisk shook her head, eyebrows creased.

"No, I think it only works with you." The monsters acknowledged this. They formed a plan. Undyne would keep Papyrus from telling his brother about hooking them in, Alphys would examine everything she could find on Gaster, and Frisk would try to get some information out of Sans. They all went to start on their projects, not realizing that even now they were all being watched by Gaster, trapped in non existence.

"They could actually do it." he muttered to himself. "If they can get the package to them." Gaster appeared near the human child. "Please, young one. look for the clues hidden in the place where ice and fire meet." Frisk looked around, startled by the voice.

"Hello? Are you there?" She called. but no one answered.

Frisk wrote down the riddle in her diary, which she carried everywhere. She bounced off to find Sans. Probably talking to Grillby, or napping on his couch. Sure enough, she found him passed out at the bar, a blanket tucked over him. "Thanks for taking care of him Grillby. I'll stop by later for some fries and a chat, ok?" He nodded, strong and silent as ever. Half carrying Sans back to his house, Frisk realized she could smell more than ketchup on his breath. Was that… ALCOHOL?! He collapsed on the couch as soon as she got him there, while she was both relieved and worried. Sans? Drinking? She sent the others a text telling them not to bring Pap over until tomorrow morning. "Sans," she started nervously, "Pap told me that your birthday is coming up. What would you like for a present?"

He looked at her suspiciously for a few moments before hiccuping and saying, "Maybe a different color hoodie, or a new pair of slippers. Although getting this thing out of my hand would be nice." She cringed. He was slurring his words together, completely unaware of his flailing right hand.

"Um… why haven't we celebrated your birthday before?" She tried.

"Well look here, kiddo, a couple years ago, I was walking home, when this guy I know shows up." He hiccuped again, his arm still swinging around in the air. "When I walked into the house a fews mins later, I don't even say anything to Pap, I just stalk off to my room." Frisk decided to pop the real question.

"Who was the guy you saw? why were you so mad at him?" Sans grew darker, his eyes going black as he continued. "He was a scientist, and he experimented with me and my brother for a few years at least. without a single sign of remorse or pity. He nearly killed me one time. I was ready to just give up. until Papyrus showed up in my head. I was in a cage, and he showed up at the bars. he reached out to me, and at first I turned it away. I thought it was a trick. But then I saw the tears. I knew that that man, whoever he was, wouldn't cry. I grabbed Papyrus' hand and woke up. Next thing I remember was waking up in the Snowdin Town orphanage." He swayed a bit and Frisk caught him as he fell forward. Out cold. Oh well. she had gotten more than enough out of him for now. She wrote down everything she could remember in her diary before giving her friend one last kiss.

"See you soon."

 _ **Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your support. big shout outs to the followers: harleyredhood, Cosmickatsu, Elistax, Reaper-of-Lost-Souls, bleach103, and shadow of eyes. I'll try to post a 4th chapter on the weekend, but I have a lot of stuff going on in school rn. please remember to follow, fav, and leave me comments. Also the character Phil is named after the Philosopher Font which is what i write these stories in.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_


	4. Chapter 4: A Glimpse of Fear

_**Flashback Nightmare time. Hold onto your heads.**_

 _ **Also trying a new Format for stories. all chapters changed, but no story changes.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_

He woke up floating. His eyes opened, and immediately squinted at the sudden brightness. After a few seconds of adjustment, he was able to see he was in some kind of tank, filled with a tinted liquid. Somehow he was breathing, which he thought was impossible. He reached out at beat on the glass, trying to get someone's attention. but as he did this, a chill went up his spine.

"What if no one comes," he mouthed, a stream of bubbles replacing his words.

He was about to try drowning himself when he heard a tapping from his right. A skeleton was floating in a tank just like him. he looked at his own hands. He tried to remember what his hand looked like before but couldn't remember anything but a hazy gray fog. the sight of his own skeletal digits didn't concern him in the slightest.

"Who are you?" he tried to get the other skeleton understand. Then he felt something radiating in his eyes. His neighbor's eyes had started glowing as well, a bright orange. Like fire. They looked into each other's eyes, and both began to feel soothed, less afraid, more secure, Neither of them noticed the third skeleton walk in, a clipboard under his arm as he lit a cigarette. He paused at the sight of his experiment's awake and interacting.

"Hmmm…" He muttered, writing a note before walking to a console, pressing a few switches, and standing back as the healing solution was drained out of the tanks. Their occupants looked surprised, suddenly noticing the newcomer. They were roughly dragged from the tanks by the doctor and placed in cells.

"Dr. Gaster," a speaker ejected, breaking into his focus. "The experiments from floor 3 are concluded."

Pressing a button on his desk he replied, "Thank you, Stella, you may go home now."

A short goodbye passed before Gaster returned to the cells to check on the boys. _No, Not boys, subjects,_ He berated himself. He couldn't decide which to check on, when an earsplitting scream ran through the compound. He raced to the cell holding the taller one, who had somehow removed his left arm. Gaster angrily picked it up and tried to reattach it, but the skeleton backed away.

"HOLD STILL!" Gaster yelled, sending the monster against the wall, a blue heart appearing on his chest.

He reattached the arm, lecturing the subject like a naughty child. Then, in some form of apology, the little creature made to hug him. He shoved it off, disturbed by the gesture. They were so much like…

"No," he said as he hurried to the other cell, "Don't even think of her name."

The other subject was instantly suspicious at the sight of Gaster. They stared at each other for a few minutes. Gaster noticed that magic was gathering around the skeleton, but he didn't know how to make it manifest into an attack. Gaster walked back to his lab. sat down at the console and pondered his options.

"I'm not a psychologist, and I need analyze more than their physical health," He recorded, lighting his fifth cigarette since they had woken. "Computer, create a virtual assistant. Download all of Alphys' files on mental health to his memory banks."

"What would like this digital assistant to be identified as, Sir?" the computer queried.

"Phil," Gaster said, thinking of the font his youngest assistant wrote all her reports to him in.

He began gathering supplies for the all-nighter he was about to pull. Coffee, a fresh pack of cigarettes, some gum.

"The taller one is needy. I need to find ways to avoid attachment."

The skeletons had learned to speak faster than Gaster expected, and he has decided that Phil, who now spent most of his virtual life watching the two them, needed something to call them besides their subject ID's. He was thinking of possible names when the letter called to him. It had been pleading him for years. it had appeared on his desk the same day he had found the subjects. This time however he couldn't resist. He finally broke the wax seal, imprinted with an "A" and read the letter. it was short and to the point.

Dear Gaster,

As I am writing this letter to you, I am close to death. I loved you with all my heart, and I have given you some final gifts. I decided on the names already.

With eternal Love,

Arial

Gaster saw a small note near the bottom. written in haste. he could barely make it out.

"Sans and Papyrus?" He said aloud, wondering what they meant. Phil looked over from his silent vigil.

"Are those the names you decided on for the skeletons, Sir?"

"Yes."

Sans looked at Papyrus, working on the color cube. Instead of trying to make all the sides the same, he was making up his own out-of-the-box, goofball solutions to the cube. Sans was never able to pay attention for long periods of time, especially in the "Puzzle Room." He always felt like someone other than the Doctor was watching them.

"Hey Sans," Papyrus called, "What do you think the Doctor is trying to test with all these Puzzles?" His hands were constantly shifting, moving the colors around like a whirlwind before stopping.

"I dunno, maybe he's seeing how long we can last without eating." Sans joked, even though he was very hungry. A strange sliding sound came from the door, and a tray holding a bowl of fruit was pushed through the flap in the bottom. Grabbing the bowl, Sans gave Pap a banana before biting into a red apple. He glanced at Pap's solution. Every side had an H on it in a different color. "What's the H stand for Papyrus?"

Papyrus looked at his brother quizzically for a few seconds. "It stands for hope." Sans nearly choked. Papyrus was looking at the camera, which they knew was being watched by Gaster. Sans could swear he heard crying from down the hallway, but he ignored it.

"Papyrus." His brother turned to him, curious. "Promise me, Pap, that you'll never give up hope."

"... I Promise."

 _ **HEY EVERYBODY!**_

 _ **Tell me what you guys think of the chapter and the new format. I'm going to space these out a bit more, sadly, because I just don't have enough time. Anyway, next chapter will be a bit lighter (I'm sick of all this angst) so yeah. Live Life Like A Cabbage and all that.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_


	5. Chapter 5: It Can Wait

Sans woke up screaming. However, he stopped screaming to groan in pain as he felt his hangover. He went into the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee, hoping the caffeine would chase the pain out of his head. Papyrus was there, with Undyne, making what appeared to be breakfast spaghetti.

"BROTHER!" Papyrus exclaimed as Sans walked in, "HOW ARE- SANS, YOU LOOK LIKE YOU JUST GOT HIT OVER THE HEAD WITH A MALLET." Sans was nursing his head with his left hand, forcing himself to smile a greeting. Undyne nodded at him, but the look in her eye told him she knew he had been drunk. Wait… how would she… Sans nearly collapsed on the ground as he remembered talking to Frisk last night.

"Here, you slacker, I already made you guys a pot of coffee," Undyne said, genuine compassion in her teasing. She was just as worried as Frisk, Sans realised, awkwardly taking the proffered mug. He gulped it down as fast as possible, without adding in any sugar or cream. "At least you know to drink it straight," She commented in an aside, walking back to the stove.

"H-hey, I need to talk to you about something," Sans whispered in her ear. Her response was telling him to go to the lab and talk to Alphys. Sans didn't know what to do, so he simply sat down at the table with his mug and the coffee pot. "I'd better handle this freak headache first then." He poured himself another mug of the wonderful pain erasing liquid, just as Pap set a plate of spaghetti in front of him. For once in his life, Sans actually ate the entire plate without pulling a face or making a bad joke. That was all Undyne needed as confirmation that he was really feeling like he had been hit with a bag of bricks.

She gave Sans a maniacal look, and as she grinned, she said, "Listen up, Sans. I know you want to talk to all of us, but you're going to have to wait." She suddenly grabbed him by the arm, hoisting him up in the air. "The three of us are going to do something awesome together!" Sans was about to protest and try to break free when they were out the door. He looked at the house shrinking into the distance.

"Welp," he said, as Undyne passed him to his brother and he was slung over Pap's shoulder, "Looks like I don't have a choice." The three friends raced off to Waterfall, laughing and joking with each other all the way. They ended up at Undyne's house, watching a movie she had picked up out of the dump. It was about a skeleton who was in charge of something called "Halloween" but discovered a different world.

Sans was skeptical, and tried to sneak off at first, until Papyrus looked disappointed that he wanted to leave so soon. He stayed for his bro's sake, and actually enjoyed the movie. He found the zombie girl, whose body parts kept falling off, his favorite character alongside the skeleton. Papyrus loves the ghost dog, and Undyne liked the mayor with a two sided head. Papyrus loved it, But he could barely stay awake by the end of it. He lay on the couch, a blanket over him, while his brother watched the gentle rise and fall of Pap's breathing.

Undyne looked at him curiously. Sans hadn't said much during the movie, but right now he looked… happy. He had a look in his eyes, like he was trying to preserve the moment. The feeling of peace, His brother's smile as he dreamed of puzzles and spaghetti. She noticed a figure sitting at the piano, their hands poised over the keys. She was about to cry out and throw something at them, but paused as they started to play a short simple melody. Sans didn't seem to notice, his eyes closing slowly. Undyne looked at the person at the piano, a hood pulled up over their face, gloves on their hands, and a scarf wrapped around their neck. The name of the melody suddenly came to her. "Memory," She said quietly, thoughts stirring in her head.

Sans gave a long sigh. "Whatever's going on… It can wait until tomorrow."

Phil looked up from the keys to see the skeleton brothers both fast asleep. With a small smile, he winked at Undyne and disappeared.

 _ **Hey. decided to make this chapter a bit more fluff, give you guys a break from the constant angst. leave me a review or send me a PM, letting me know what you like and hate. I might toss in some other obscure references in the future chapters.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting Phil

Sans woke up with the strangest sense of peace he'd ever known. everything was so still, so quiet. He wished it could be like this forever, as if he were still dreaming. His dream flashed into his mind just then. A long hallway. Frisk walking up to him, a smile on her face, a red heart locket around her neck. They joked and laughed, never noticing the shadowy figure lurking behind them. Sans looked up at Papyrus on the couch. He caught a glimpse of the calendar.

"Three days," Undyne said, noticing him wake up, while she was making some toast. She threw him a piece as she crunched into her own. Sans looked at the brick before crunching into it. "Then you are officially… Wait, how old are you?!" Undyne realized.

Sans looked away, his eyes black, "23. In three days I will be 23." He stood up. "I'm going to talk to Alphys. Tell Pap I'll see him for lunch." He teleported to Alphys' lab, where the Scientist was sitting in front of her computer. She sighed as she turned to face him.

"I knew you'd be here sooner or later." She led the way to the lower floors. "Sans, do you remember a man named Wing Ding Gaster?" She watched as his already dark eyes started to glow. "I thought so. Well he left me a secret key to his lab. _Your_ Lab." Sans was silent as she input the code to the door. As it swung open, she gestured for Sans to go in front of her. "After you."

Sans trudged slowly down the hallway. All he could think about was Papyrus. Sweet, innocent, with no idea just how much he had really suffered in life. He opened the door reluctantly, half expecting to see Gaster himself sitting at a desk, writing in blood. What? Sans can have an imagination. Instead, Sans saw Phil sprawled on top of one of the desks. The hologram's glasses were taped to the sides of his head, and the sleeves of his gray lab coat were rolled up to his elbows. "Who the hell are you?"

Phil examined him like a specimen ready for dissection. A strange feeling exuded from the digital skeleton. Sans could sense disappointment and sadness, but also a hint of relief. "Alphys," Phil spoke quietly, "could you please let us talk alone for a few minutes?" Alphys nodded, blushing, and left the lab. Sans and Phil stared into each other's eyes. "I have a message for you. It took a while to print out, but the computer wouldn't translate it." He gestured at an envelope on the desktop.

"What's your name, friend," Sans inquired wryly, scooping up the letter and tucking it into his jacket pocket. He looked curiously at Phil. He was medium height, with a strange line going down his jaw.

"My name is Phil. I was created by Gaster to act as a therapist for you and your brother. However, he never put to to my assigned directive. Instead he used me as a camera to pour out his own guilt." He watched as Sans backed off his left eye visibly glowing. "I remember why your other eye stopped glowing. It was…" he stopped abruptly, turning away. "Nevermind."

Sans wanted to leave, but he had to know the answer to the question hiding in the back of his head. "Phil, did Gaster know my mother?" He watched as the face in front of him, previously calm and collected, broke into a scowl filled with rage. "He knew Arial. They were quite close, until a year before she gave birth to you too. She had wanted to send you to a foster home, but Gaster had the right to you both." It took a minute for this last comment to process. "T-the… right? Tell me you're not saying…" He fell to his knees, his eye now a bright ember of blue fire, while Phil just nodded, looking dejected.

The next thing Sans knew, he was laying on a very uncomfortable bed, and he could feel his hand being clutched. He was barely able to turn his head to see Pap, his eyes closed, tears still falling down his face. Sans looked back at the ceiling. All he could see was Gaster's face, cigarette smoke obscuring his eyes, and a stern frown glued to his mouth. But now, Sans saw the eyes clearly. They were so much like his, yet the glow was dimmer, sadder. A memory surfaced from the back of his mind.

The last experiment Gaster had done to him was a simple test of memory. He would hold up a picture, and Sans would name it. "Bone. Ice. Waterfall. Red. Tools." he had gone on and on, getting very bored. The final picture was of a pretty female skeleton, with a lovely dress on and a huge smile. Sans could barely contain his confusion. He had never seen the woman in the photograph, but he felt like he knew her. " ... Sir… Who is that?" Gaster looked at him, the strange glow in his eyes gone. "This is my wife, Arial. She died about 4 years ago now. a year before…" Gaster abruptly stood up and exited.

Sans looked back at Papyrus, now in an uneasy slumber. He ran his free hand over his brother's skull, and he fell back to sleep.

 _ **Hey everyone. not much to say, hoping the wait for this didn't kill you or didn't meet your expectations. If i did disappoint, then I'll make it up in the next chapter. Also my deviantart self just died of feels, so that happened.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hello. Time to dive into a world of adventure and plot holes.**_

Frisk had wasted no time. While Sans and Phil were talking she had been puzzling over the riddle. Look for clues where Ice and Fire meet? What happened when you melted ice?

"You get water," she spouted, hoping saying it out loud would help her. "Water." The place where there is water. "Waterfall!" She berated herself for not realizing it sooner, but she was too excited to care. Grabbing her bag, Frisk ran out the door, giving Toriel a brief explanation of where she was going, and went for the river in Snowdin. The River-person was there to greet them with a quiet "tra la la." The cloaked monster asked Frisk how they were, and what they were looking for. "Well, I actually have no idea what I'm trying to find. All I know is that it is in Waterfall." The river person looked distant as if dwelling on some imaginary item.

"Tra la la. Look for answers in the echoing rooms. Tra la la." They arrived at the Waterfall dock.

Frisk hopped off the boat and gave their mysterious friend one last look. "Thank you for the ride, and the advice." She walked off towards Gerson's shop, and wasn't able to catch the last sliver of wisdom from the River-person.

"I pray you are able to accept what you find, child."

Frisk picked up Undyne and Napstablook on the way to the largest room in the region. Where a carpet of glowing grass was dotted by beautiful blue echo flowers. "Ok nerds," Undyne started, "What are we looking for?" Frisk looked around.

"Something small, probably, and easy to hide." They split up, each going their own way into the maze of flowers. Frisk listened to message after message, never finding anything out of place. Undyne was ripping up the ground with her spear, her sounds of anger getting louder with each minute. Frisk looked over to see Napstablook staring at a small waterfall. "Did you find something?" she said as she walked over to him, motioning for Undyne to join them.

The small ghost looked at the two of them curiously. "Can't you hear it too? The music?"

They shook their heads. "It's so strange, it sounds like only half of a song. A harmony without a melody."

Frisk tapped his side and silently pointed to the waterfall. Her eyes said, _Is it coming from behind there?_ The ghost nodded. Frisk looked to Undyne, expecting her to go first, but the warrior motioned for her to go on. Alone. With palms sweating, knees shaking and fear growing, She walked towards the waterfall. She put her hand into the flow, reaching for a wall, but felt none. with an unsteady breath, Frisk dashed through the cascade and found a small dark room, with a single echo flower in the center. Silently Frisk tapped the petals lightly, and listened. 4 words drifted out onto the air. " _Take this to them._ " Just then, Frisk noticed the small box laying on the floor of the cave. she picked it up reverently, and walked over to the curtain of water. As an afterthought she returned to the flower and left her own message. "I promise I'll help them." On the other side, she showed her friends the box.

"Come on, let's crack it open!" Frisk pulled the box away before Undyne could snatch it. Undyne was persistent, and it took a few hours of running through the caves with Napstablook following frantically before Frisk could talk her down. She explained that they shouldn't invade Sans' privacy just because they were curious. "I guess you're right. This is about fixing our friend, not solving a mystery." Napstablook sighed in relief, glad to be done with the chasing.

Together, they decided to wait until Sans' actual birthday before giving him the box. It was a very long two days.

Sans looked at the tacky decorations all over the house. the multi-colored streamers and balloons were reflecting the exact opposite of his mood. After Phil's revelation, he had spent a lot of time thinking. Everytime he thought of his father, a blank face came up. He could now clearly picture every line of his mother's face, but he could never make Gaster appear when he thought of his father. He had realized just last night that Gaster hadn't been his father. He had no father, only a mother and a brother. Gaster was just the man who had helped bring him and his brother into existence. Papyrus looked around at the decor with a practiced eye. "Hey, bro." Sans called over, "Where are the guests?" He wasn't happy about the party, but he would make an effort to not try and run.

"Frisk said she would be right over. Undyne is picking up Dr. Alphys, Mettaton, and the little ghost, " Papyrus replied with a wave of his hand. He was really hoping that whatever Frisk was bringing would help Sans. Papyrus remembered the first time he had learned what a birthday is. It was an older skeleton, dressed in black. He had been giving Papyrus and Sans some kind of test, and He had mentioned that today was his birthday. Papyrus had asked what the word meant, and had received a very cryptic response. "Oh, Frisk. I really hope your gift can fix this."

"What's up, nerds?!" echoed from behind the brothers accompanied by a loud slam of the door. Frisk slipped in with the monsters, clutching a brightly wrapped box. The next couple of hours passed in a blur for everyone. There was quite a bit of yelling, some eating, a tad of singing, and finally came the gifts.

Sans looked at the various packages in front of him. Undyne had gotten him a new hoodie, a dark green one, While Alphys had found a pair of slippers that had a pattern of skulls on them. Mettaton had gotten him a computer, the latest from MTT, And napstablook had gotten him a few CD's. One was heavy metal, while the others looked like instrumental music. Finally he looked at the last present he had yet to open. Undyne and The rest had left for the family room, but Frisk stayed in the kitchen with Sans. He looked at the neat wrapping, black with little red hearts. She waited patiently for him to carefully peel of the wrapping. The look on his face made it look like he was defusing a bomb. He looked at the palin little box, wondering what was inside. He really didn't want to know, But he opened it anyway. Sitting inside was a small pile of objects. There was a book of some kind, a stack of letters, a small statuette, and a framed picture. The book turned out to be full of pick up lines. he saw a bunch of frustrated marks all over the pages. the letters could wait for later, and he picked up the statuette. It was shaped like a pair of hands, entwined in each other. there was an inscription reading, " _Sometimes, It's the smallest gestures that make you fall in love._ " Sans gave the message a snort before setting it aside. Frisk gasped as he took out the picture. It was a pair of skeletons, one tall and slim, with a ovular head and a gloomy smile, the other shorter and feminine, whose smile was as bright as the sun. However, it was the two figures at the bottom that made Sans' hand shake violently. near the knee area of the others, two more little skeletons stood. Sans, with his joking smile, and Papyrus with his carefree grin.

Frisk saw a few drops of moisture hit the frame. looking up, she realized that Sans was quietly crying, his gaze locked on the little family. HIS family. "Sans, I'm sorry… I didn't… We wouldn't… "

"Thank you, Frisk."

"Wha- what?"

"I haven't seen these faces in a long time, and now… I'll always have them. Thank you, kiddo."

"Are you alright Sans? What was in the box?"

"Just some old keepsakes, Papyrus. Now come on let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."

 _ **Hello everyone! This is the final chapter of this fic, but don't worry. I have lots of ideas for stories and a lot more words to share with you guys. Thanks to all of you that have kept reading this far, and always live life like a cabbage.**_

 _ **-Jarhead**_


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